How Different ND Filters Change Your Images

One of the most useful and common creative tools a photographer can have in their bag is a neutral density (ND) filter. ND filters come in a variety of different strengths that can have diverse effects on your photos, and this great video will show you how the various options will change your images.

Coming to you from Brent Hall, this excellent video will show you how different neutral density filter levels change your images. ND filters work by simply reducing the amount of light passing through to your lens, allowing you to use longer shutter speeds for creative effects (they are also used in certain situations when using flash and a wide aperture and by videographers to help them follow the 180-degree shutter rule for natural motion). Their light reduction power is expressed in stops; thus, a one-stop filter would double your shutter speed. Three-stop, six-stop, and 10-stop filters tend to be the most common, but there are more extreme examples, such as a 15-stop, which, for example, would turn a 1/100 s exposure into a whopping 5.5-minute exposure. They are a fantastic creative tool that can open up a lot of possibilities; check out the video above for the full rundown.

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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9 Comments

And our next article : why do i keep coming to that dumbass website ?

Hahaha

Yes, why do you?

Maybe because I still hope I'll find something interesting some time...
But come on, ND filters change shutter speed and thus the look of photos ? They are available in different strengths ?
Do you know that fire burns ?

Then create your own site and show us how it is done.
and water is wet.

ND filters don’t change your photo, shutter speed does.

Good video Brent. Thank you.

Could you guys not collaborate with the video’s creator (not specific to this video, but video articles in general), link their video but also post an article explaining the same points as their video?

Generally I look here for an article I can read, and I’ll go straight to YouTube if I want to watch a video, so these stub articles aren’t my favourite on here, and I feel like many smaller creators would gladly spend half an hour sending you guys a draft article as a ‘guest writer’ for the seal of quality that being featured here should offer?

Obviously, I can go elsewhere if I don’t like it etc. this is just my personal feedback - you might have tried it before with no success and I just haven’t noticed!

I find these articles valuable. I find out about other photographers that I wouldn't have known about if Fstoppers had not put up these articles.